Michelin-Starred Chef Ivan Cerdeño, from the restaurant “El Carmen de Montesión” in Toledo (Spain), demonstrating recipes of the Spanish tapas during the Master Class at Enderun Colleges in line with this week's Madrid Fusion Manila.

Enderun Colleges welcomed Chef Ivan last April 4th who is in town to attend Madrid Fusion Manila 2016.

Enderun students had the opportunity to attend this Master Class, but also the chance to work with Chef Ivan in the kitchen to prepare the tapas served during the cocktail.

Participants of this culinary demo witnessed Chef Cerdeño preparing traditional Spanish tapas, all with pork as a common ingredient.

With fine ingredients from INTERPORC, the Interprofessional Agri-food Organization for White Pigs, recognized by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

In his homeland in Toledo, Spain pork plays an important major role in food.

The Chef delighted the attendees with a contrast of traditional cuisine – how his grandmother and mother would cook them – and his modern take on the same three dishes: pork tenderloin with cherry tomatoes and peanuts, ham croquettes, and “Gachas” with ham and chorizo.

Chef Ivan created three recipes using 3 parts of the pork, one of them is ham, an important part of the pork.

He also wanted to shine a light on the parts of the pork that are not so noble and less pricey and also the noble ones such as the pork tenderloin that they've incorporated with fresh herbs you'll find in the Philippines.

Pork tenderloin with cherry tomatoes and peanuts recipe :

The first recipe used is the pork tenderloin, a noble cut of the pork.

They made a marinade with the combination of spices using soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, oyster sauce, curry, and paprika.

The pork tenderloin is marinated for 24 hours.

Then combined with fresh herbs, cilantro, basil, coriander and roasted cherry tomatoes. Put together with a sauce made from the water coming from the cherry tomatoes together with the marinade.

“Gachas” with ham and chorizo recipe:

The second recipe pays homage to the chef's homeland Toledo, it is a traditional recipe that is pretty much simply found there the gruel.

“This Gachas con Jamon y Chorizo is a dish that is very close to my heart. This dish was used to feed farmers and their children back in the day. This dish is very dear to me because it is a recipe that was taught to me by my grandmother." – said Chef Cerdeño during the Master Class.

It is a combination of stir-frying the chorizo, onions, garlic, pancetta (pork belly).

They also used green pea floor, that is a typical flour found in Spain. (For the Philippine market milling Chickpea flour can be a substitute)

The flour is cooked together with the oil of the pancetta and everything else together.

In order to make it a much lighter dish, and make it more modern, they placed the gruel in a cream dispenser, making it more like an airy mousse.

To make the pork flavor come out which is the star of the dish, they based the plate with sauteed chorizo with onions.

To add another texture to the dish they added a crunchy piece of bread. The crunchy texture reflects how it is typically eaten on the countryside, where you would bring bread and dip it in the bowl.

Ham croquettes recipes:

The last recipe is the ham croquette, which is a traditional Spanish recipe found mostly everywhere in Spain.

They infused the soup base with the ham bones, which is a part of the pig which is mostly not used and thrown away, but this time given importance in the dish.

It is a regular bechamel but with a lot of flour substituted with gelatin sheets instead to make the bechamel a whole lot lighter.

The ham is the protagonist of the dish with the infused milk carrying the flavor of the ham bones and with small bits of ham added in the bechamel.

Ham in this dish is exploding with flavor.

In order to create the croquettes take 25% of the bechamel roll it into a ball, dip in egg yolk and Japanese bread crumbs and then deep fry.

And because it is fried the gelatin sheet with very high heat melts, and the bechamel inside almost becomes liquid.

The croquettes are very smooth on the inside and crunchy on the outside.

Not only were the participants able to witness an awarded Chef in his natural element, but also had the opportunity to bring home special recipes.

About me

Anton worked for the biggest multinational company in the Philippines
for 12+ years, straight out of college, before finally quitting his day job to become a full-time Online Media Entrepreneur.
OurAwesomePlanet.com, which he started in 2005, is the number #1
food and travel media in the Philippines which aims to promote the “Food and Travel Secrets in the Philippines” and to
inspire Filipinos that living in the Philippines is truly awesome!
Anton Diaz received the first Tourism Star Award for media by
the Department of Tourism for his valuable contribution in promoting
Philippine cuisine and destinations through his blog Our Awesome
Planet thereby encouraging tourists to visit and taste the best in what the Philippines has to offer.
Our Awesome Planet is recognized as one of the Top 50 Travel Blogs in
the world!